Worthwhile
by AZ1087653
Summary: Johnny learns something new while helping a child with a curable disease. Rated Teen for content and medical issues.


This story is written for a friend of mine. She hasn't gone through the issue the character does in this story, and hopefully never will. I just decided to write her into a story and she likes "The Dead Zone" movie. It was easier to write for the show since the book/movie leaves very little to be added.

I do not own the rights to the characters in this story, I just like writing about them in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping.

This story takes place sometime after Sarah announces her pregnancy but before Walt dies. I don't recall if it was during the summer and how far along she was, so if it's off I'm sorry and if this story is reminiscent of anything else typed here, I did not intend for that to happen.

Worthwhile

Sometimes there are just those days you wake up in the morning and want to shut your eyes and go back to sleep. Let someone else deal with things for a change. That was one of the thoughts in the back of my head every morning; let someone else deal with them. Then I remember that I can't let someone else deal with them. No one else sees what I see.

That morning was no exception. I woke up, did my physical therapy, ate breakfast, nothing was special about that day, although I did see a flash of the news paper boy copping a feel on the girl down the road.

After my normal routine, I left the house, the words of Bruce running through my head. He may have been gone, but his voice remained with me, urging me to use my gift for good. I didn't want to use it right then. I just wanted to make it to my son's baseball game.

J.J. had been working on his slide for quite a while and he insisted that everyone was there to see it. I had my video camera in hand and was ready to record the moment; moments I would never miss again.

I arrived at the park just after nine AM, just in time to see the team take the field. J.J. was on deck, waiting for his turn at bat. I watched him swing at imaginary balls in preparation for his upcoming turn.

"John!" The voice of his mother, Sarah, broke me out of my daze. She was sitting with her husband, Walt, in the stands off to the side. She waved to me and I started over.

It was one of those fairy tale days, not a cloud in the sky and it was probably just over eighty degrees. A nice day for anyone to be out.

I checked out the bleachers. There were a couple sets of parent that I knew and a few I didn't. Sitting directly in front of Walt and Sarah, a few steps down, was a lone, blond headed woman, with a baby carrier.

"Hiya John, you almost missed it." Walt said with a genuine smile.

Sometimes it was hard to tell with him since Sarah and I used to be an item and J.J. was actually mine, thought Walt had been raising him. Once Sarah announced she was pregnant too, all of Walt's 'back burner' worries drifted away.

"You try getting out of the house when you see your paper boy doing things he's too young to be doing." I said, grinning and making my way up the bleachers.

"I don't want to know." Walt said. Sarah just rolled her eyes.

I continued my slow trek up the bleachers, wondering why the Bannermans would consider such a spot with my leg and Sarah being pregnant. I didn't get a chance to scold them in my head before I slipped, mildly, and caught myself on the woman a few steps down.

With a flash, I was suddenly with her at the hospital. She was crying as she read, what looked like, an autopsy report. I saw a few words pop out at me, like ABO Incompatibility, Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn and Cause of Death – Anemia. I noticed the baby had type B while the mother had type O. The doctor was apologizing and I saw, out of the corner of my vision, a dead baby on an operating table. When the door to the operating room closed, I was back from my vision.

"You okay?" The woman asked.

"John, you still with us?" Walt asked at the same time the woman asked if I was okay.

I shook my head and caught a look at the baby in the carrier at the lady's feet. Never in all my years had I seen a child who was as yellow looking as that baby.

"Y-y-yeah." I said, shaking. "I'm okay."  
Walt reached for my arm and pulled me between he and Sarah. "I've seen that look before, what's up?" He whispered, while the two of us watched the first batter take her turn.

"Do you know what ABO Incompatibility is?" I whispered, leaning around him so Sarah could hear too.

"No." He answered. "Why?"

"Because that baby doesn't have much longer to live. She's going to die of Anemia caused by the incompatibility issue." I said softly.

"You're kidding." Sarah gasped, reaching for her stomach.

"Do you know what that is?" I hissed, hoping the woman didn't hear me.

"The baby's blood type is different than the mother's. I read about it a week or so ago. It has something to do with antibodies or something." The look in Sarah's eyes told me not to wait to find out more. Find a way to get the woman and her child to the hospital before the baby died.

"I've got to get her to the hospital." I stated, standing up and taking a step down.

I looked over at J.J., who was watching me as he made his way toward home plate. I showed him the camera and handed it to Walt, who turned it on as I sat next to the woman. She looked to be enjoying the game and seemed to know my son's name since she shouted out as he took position.

"Hi." I said, casually, looking at the kid, who was sleeping peacefully.

"Hi," she answered cheerfully.

"You have a child out there?" I asked.

"Yeah, my husband is base-coaching right now." She said smiling at me, then looked at her daughter. "That's my son, the one in the dugout, putting a helmet on."

"Good looking kid." I said. That child could have been a model.

"His father and I think so." She said wistfully.

"How old is his sister?" I asked, watching my son hit the ball and run off toward first.

"Just a couple days. She has some jaundice, so I thought I'd bring her to her brother's game to help cheer him on."

I raised my eyebrows. "The discoloration?" I asked.

"Yeah, I have to take her to the hospital down the street in about fifteen minutes for her check-up, but I wanted to see my son hit first. That and the sun is good for babies with jaundice."

I didn't know what everything she was talking about meant and I thought I should probably spend more time researching any and everything on the internet when I got a chance. I did know I needed her to take that baby to the hospital now and I was at a loss for how to get her there without talking about the visions.

"I'm John, by the way John Smith."

"I'm Lynn, Lynn Whittaker and this is Angela, Angel for short." She said indicating the baby.

I missed her husband and son's name due to the irony of the baby's name. That name was going to fit remarkably well in a short amount of time.

"Wait a minute, did you say John Smith?" She asked.

"Do we know each other?" I asked, thinking that this might be easier than I thought.

"No, but I have heard your name mentioned in conversation before." She said, looking out at her son, who was stepping up to bat.

Again I was stuck on how to drag her away to the hospital, when the baby did it for me. A sharp shriek emitted from the carrier and both Lynn and I looked at the child. She was shrieking as if her life depended on it.

"What…" She said, clearly startled.

I didn't waste any time. "I need to get you and the baby to the hospital now. I don't have time to explain."

Lynn was clearly at a loss, so she didn't mind one bit as I grabbed the carrier and hopped off the bleachers. Walt stood up and helped her off and the four of us, including the baby, raced to Walt's patrol car. I glanced back in time to see Sarah speaking to Lynn's husband through the fence.

It took us just a few minutes to make it to the hospital and I jumped out of the car before it stopped. The back of my mind was racing with my thought this morning, stay in bed. I was glad I didn't, for the first time in quite a few days.

I almost wrenched the door off the hinges as I opened it and pulled the baby out. With a speed I hadn't had since I was a child, I ran toward the door to the emergency room. I almost crashed through the doors when they wouldn't open fast enough. I saw Lynn and Walt come in a few seconds behind me.

"This child needs assistance now." I shouted to the first hospital worker I saw.

"Excuse me?" She asked with an air of indignation.

I shoved the carrier into her face. "This child has something called Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn." I said in a rather harsh tone, hoping I pronounced it right.

I could hear Lynn behind me. "Oh no." She said. She sounded calmer than I would have expected. Obviously she knew what the issue was.

"The mother has O the baby had B. Do whatever it is you do for this sort of thing." I all but snarled.

"Okay." The nurse said, taking the carrier and making her way to one of the rooms. I watched a doctor come from somewhere, listen to the nurse, look my way, recognize me and take the baby into the room.

A hand touched my shoulder and I looked at the worried face of the mother. "How did you know?" She asked softly.

I ended up getting another vision from that touch. I saw Angela's fifth birthday party, in fact, I saw myself at the birthday party. I had given her one of those new fangled Power Wheel's cars; pink.

"I'm not sure how to explain how I knew, but I can tell you this will save her life." I looked at her, then at Walt, who just nodded, the grim look on his face softening. "Do you know what they're going to do to Angela, since you knew what the issue was?"

"She'll receive an exchange transfusion so the antibodies I gave her don't attack her blood. She should be fine." Lynn said, walking over to a chair and sitting down.

I looked at Lynn closely for the first time in the thirty minutes it had been since the first vision. Her eyes betrayed her age; as they were older than she obviously was. Her calming features immediately calmed me down from the panic I had been in. I didn't know how or why, but someone was obviously watching out for that little Angel.

"John, Dad, why did you run off?" J.J. asked, once Walt and I showed back up at the playing field, well after the game had ended.

"Just making sure this world had one more angel in it son." Walt said, clapping J.J. on the back.

Both of us were sporting neon bandages on our arms. Proof that we had gone to the hospital and while we were there had decided to donate blood.

"I don't understand." The boy said, slightly hurt that both of us disappeared in the first inning.

"Sometimes its better not to question things we do J.J. and the answers will come. When I find out, I'll let you know." I said, grabbing for the ball J.J. was tossing around.

"Hey, gimme that back." He said, jumping for it.

"I have an idea. How about we play our own game, right here, right now?" Walt said, leaning over and taking the ball from me.

"Can we?" Our son asked, jumping up and down.

"Me and your mom on one team, you and Johnny on the other." Walt said, walking backward toward the pitcher's mound.

"We're so gonna cream you dad." J.J. said, running toward home plate.

I looked over at Sarah, who rolled her eyes and headed off toward first base. I walked over to J.J., ready to catch the ball and toss it back, if need be, realizing that even though I help save people with my gift, it's times like these that make getting up in the morning the even more worthwhile.

6


End file.
